Darcie's Story for Speech and Language UK

Speech & Language UK took part in Media Trust's Volunteer Films Programme, a scheme that partners volunteer directors with grassroot charities to produce powerful, engaging short films that demonstrate important causes.

For at least 1.7 million children in the UK, learning to talk and understand words feels like an impossible hurdle. Speech & Language UK exists to give children who are facing these challenges the skills they need so they aren’t left behind or waiting to be understood. They do this through creating tools for schools, giving advice to families and putting pressure on politicians to prioritise support for children. Speech & Language UK wanted an emotive film about Developmental Language Disorder to shine a light on “the most common childhood condition you have never ever heard of”. DLD is a lifelong condition affecting 2 out of 30 children in the average classroom in the UK. Since the film's release on DLD Awareness Day in October 2022, it has remained the most engaged with content on the charity’s social media platforms and has won an RADLD award for outstanding contribution to raising awareness of the condition.